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World without AIDS

By Clare Wilson

THE press conference was packed out. Hundreds of journalists jostled for position as America’s most senior health politician and several leading scientists announced a major breakthrough in AIDS research. There would be a vaccine ready for testing in two years, they said. And the vaccine would be ready for worldwide use before a further year was out.

The event took place in 1984. The press conference was held in Washington DC to publicise the discovery that the strange new disease killing gay men in California was caused by a virus, HIV. The journalists demanded to know when this knowledge would translate into a way to stop further deaths. The answer they got was three years.

Nineteen years later, 22 million people have died from AIDS, and there are 42 million infected with HIV – with the vast majority living in developing countries. And still we have no vaccine.

These days most vaccine researchers fight shy of making specific predictions. But despite numerous setbacks, there is now a mood of cautious optimism. HIV is arguably the most diabolical virus that humans have ever encountered, but it does have tiny chinks in its amour. And recent research pinpointing their location suggests we may be finally ready to take on the virus and win.

Like all viruses, HIV reproduces by hijacking the molecular machinery of the cells it invades. But HIV deviously targets the very cells that help fight off infections – CD4 cells, named after a receptor molecule on their surface. The virus spreads from cell to cell, turning them into virus factories then killing them. As patients’ CD4 cell …